The story of Jesus walking on water is among the most famous scenes in the Gospels. Just imagine how you would feel being able to walk over the surface of a lake without even getting wet. What a supernatural experience! How could Jesus and then also Peter do what we know to be physically impossible? But only looking at the outward appearance of the story could make us miss the deeper meaning within.

The disciples were in the boat that was tossed back and forth by the wind and the waves when Jesus came to them walking on the lake. They were grown men – some of them experienced fishermen – but terrified at this sight. It says they “cried out in fear!” But when Peter realized it was Jesus he asked him to let him walk on water as well. Peter often stands out with his passionate and at times impulsive personality, but isn’t it admirable that he had the courage to step into the wavy sea by faith? He must have thought that if Jesus can walk on water, then he can give me the power to do it also!

Once Jesus calls him and Peter steps out of the boat, he miraculously walks on the water just as Jesus does. All goes well as long as he looks at Jesus. But then it says “he saw the wind” and Peter got scared. As soon as his attention turned to the storm and away from Jesus, he began to sink. He cried out to Jesus to save him, and Jesus immediately reached out and caught him by the hand. But he also scolded him: why don’t you believe that you can continue to walk on water by faith?

In our lives, we encounter many storms and challenges, but we can overcome and “walk on water” as long as we look at Jesus who calls us. The problem starts when we focus on our difficult situation and circumstances and forget about Christ who should be the center of our lives. We become overwhelmed with worries and doubts and begin to sink. Ideally, we should keep focusing on Jesus always, so we can walk straight through the storm by faith. But even if we struggle with doubts at times and may feel overwhelmed and even if it feels like we’re sinking, let us not forget to cry out to Jesus who is always faithful and will stretch out his hands and save us.

Especially during this time of the pandemic when uncertainty and fear abound, may we trust in the Lord who has overcome everything and calls us to walk on water in the middle of the storm, not by our own strength or ability but by faith in Him. 

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Jesus humbled Himself to become a man, setting aside His glory, to be one of us. Because He took the punishment of sin in our place, tasting death for everyone, God crowned Him with glory and honor. That should reveal to us the great heart of God who was willing to give His only Son, but also that He honors those who sacrifice for the good of others. Jesus sacrificed His life for the purpose of bringing many sons to glory. He left His glory so that He could bring you to glory.

The author of Hebrews often used nautical terms. There is an unusual one here in this passage. When a ship ran aground, the strongest, most capable swimmer was chosen to take a rope from the ship to the safety of the shore and secure it. The sailors could then cling to the rope and not be swept away by the current as they made their way to the safety of the shore. It is translated “author” here. You could also use the word “trailblazer”. Jesus secured a line of safety for us to reach God.

He is our perfect Savior because He suffered all the things we suffer. He got in the boat with us and endured the storms of life with us. None of us could ever hope to make it to the safety of shore. Knowing that the boat of humanity had run aground and was about to be beaten to pieces, He joined our boat and suffered with us. He dove in and braved the currents and secured the rope to within the Holy of Holies in heaven. As we escape this storm we are brought right into the very presence of God, accepted in Christ, who became one of us.

Consider: He is our perfect trailblazer. He can show us the Way because He walked (swam) it for us.

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5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

Paul’s attitude and philosophy of his mission work are clearly stated in this verse; he served and worked as “a servant of Christ.” A servant, doulos in Greek, was a term Paul used to indicate his self-identity as he served the Lord.

A voluntary life of devotion and sacrifice for God’s Kingdom was a basis of every work he did. He confessed, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” (1 Corinthians 9:19)

Paul’s portrait of his own identity is a mandate to everyone who follows the life of a believer. Once you are saved, you have absolute freedom to choose a way of life. With the new life born through Christ’s blood, Paul “made himself a slave to everyone” to preach the gospel and advance God’s Kingdom.

When this identity collapses, a crisis comes to the believers’ life, diverting them to demand God’s reward and blaming others for their own choice. Although dedication of one’s life to God’s Kingdom begins with one’s free will and voluntary devotion, loss of this mindset as “doulos” can quickly blind our heart and mislead us into a meaningless conflict with secular values such as money, fame, or vain ambitions.

Paul said, “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” “I make myself a slave to everyone.”

The fact that his life was driven by this belief was exposed in many parts of the New Testament. Rather than receiving, he considered giving as a greater blessing (Acts 20:35). Even in times of deficiency, he led his team to fundraise from churches in order to help and support the church in Jerusalem that was suffering from a severe famine.

Paul was strictly dogmatic, however, strategically practical and forward-looking. Not only teaching and preaching, Paul provided substantive money and funds for the poor, practicing the love of Christ voluntarily.

In Christ, there is nothing impossible for believers who desire to practice this love for others. We are in an era that even Christians are sold by money, being tested or discouraged in material temptations. Through the lips of the prophet Isaiah, God said, “To which of my creditors did I sell you?” (Isaiah 50:1) However, countless believers surrender to the force of money and discredit their conviction in Christ.

Paul’s courageous and daring model of self-support and self-reliance should speak strongly to modern churches to release many who are bound by a trap of fear in money or secular values. This Early Church method will revive when we inherit Paul’s spirit: “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.”

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OA churches and ministries will offer Ash Wednesday Service to commence the Lenten period of 2019. In this season, Christians enter into another profound time of the liturgical year after Christmas to meditate on the theme of Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Churches take part in special Bible Studies that illuminate the Lord’s suffering and love.

Congregants are called to remember God’s unconditional love demonstrated through His Son’s cross. With repentance and prayer, believers also participate in this forty-day path to be renewed in knowing God’s love more deeply.

Suffering is a centerpiece of the Christian message that continually brings people to see the Lord’s death on the Cross. Apostle Paul wrote that children of God should “share in his sufferings” in order that they can share “in his glory”. (Romans 8:17)

Believers are called to meditate on the true meaning of suffering and its reason. The Lord said: “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) It is suffering that the Lord voluntarily took in love to give his life as sacrifice for others.

In the life of Jesus, love is not an abstract concept for logic or philosophy. It is a sincere act of “laying down one’s own life”: Sacrifice. At the climax of this sacrifice lies the Cross where Jesus shed his blood and suffered for sinners. The Cross, on which the Lord became a flawless sacrifice, demonstrated what true love is to the whole world — a world that could have been left in ignorance and darkness.

The path of the Cross until Resurrection calls every believer in this Lenten season to ponder how much sacrifice the Lord had borne and how much sacrifice we are ready to bear to follow the Lord.

You Know Your Labor in the Lord is Not in Vain

Before a call to follow Jesus, Christians sometimes hopelessly withdraw and step back like two disciples going back to Emmaus. The turning point when they opened their eyes and saw the Lord of resurrection came when they participated in breaking bread, an action that signifies breaking of Lord’s own sacrificed body. The passage in Luke 24 tells us that taking part in suffering is the way for believers to see the Lord who stands in the glory of resurrection.

This endlessly deep and profound message of death and life, cross and resurrection, suffering and glory, should let us fully fathom the core message of salvation in the time of Lent.

The Lenten messages proclaim, “At the end of the Cross, there lies a brilliant world of resurrection. Likewise, the suffering of the righteous secures the reward of the glory God grants.”

It is a special time that allows churches to gain the greatest power and strength of resurrection.

The Apostle’s encouragement resonates throughout the entire period of churches’ meditation on suffering: Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain!

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In this day of history, Father God has loved us. You foreknew us. You have chosen us. You have justified us. You will lead us to the ultimate place of glory. At this time, as we remember that immeasurable love of the Father God, this inexpressible deep and wide love that you have put in us, since we have come to know and see that love, may we be the ones to testify that love.

That love is the love that was from the beginning. It is the glory of God from the beginning. It is the eternal life of the Father God that was from the beginning. But because man fell, man went away from God. Man fell into the sinful world and could not see and could not understand that world. You have sent Jesus Christ to this world. You have allowed us to see the eternal life. You have allowed us to come to know and understand the eternal life. We truly thank you for this.

May we be the ones to proclaim that love. Until the day that the whole world, in the love of Christ gives glory to our Father God, may we be the ones with all our passions, testify that eternal life and that great love of yours. We truly ask you for this. We truly wish for this.

Throughout the many difficulties of the past days, Father God, you have held onto us who are so young and insufficient. We thank you for Allowing us to come to this position and place. The hope you have given us, the treasure you have put into us, though we may be shabby and insufficient like jars of clay, we thank you for putting the precious hope of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, for putting that precious dream in us and allowing us fulfill this world.

May we be the ones who give all our bodies, heart, devotion and bring the kingdom of our father to this earth. It is the world of love from the beginning. It is that eternal life perfectly revealed through Jesus Christ on this earth. May we be the precious chosen people to fulfill that great world on this earth.

Today, by the grace of your calling us, not only in the Southeast Asia, but worldwide, we are having this New Year’s Day service. It is being offered to Father as a dedication service. You have told us to dedicate and offer the first to the Father God. We give our first to you Father. May all the things we give this year glorify our Father God. May all things we give this year be under the absolute sovereignty of our Father. It is so that only the Father’s God’s history of eternal glory, through us, be perfectly proclaimed to the world.

Oh Lord, may watch over us and guide us. We give everything of this year back to you Father. Please take charge of us and guide us. May we be the church that is ruled over by the trinity. May all our ministries take the rule and the guidance of the trinity. For the year 2019, may we all be the ones who leave the record of victory that was never before and never will be. Praying that you will bless us and guide us, in the name of Jesus Christ we prayed. Amen!

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